Life after #LaughAtDeath: In conversation with the comedians and patients

The comedians and palliative care patients behind the #LaughAtDeath campaign share the story behind the now-viral video and how it has changed their livesShephali Bhatt | ETBrandEquity | Updated: May 03, 2017, 08:14 IST

A couple of weeks ago, Brand Equity met with some of the comedians (Kamra, Kashyap, Pania) and patients (Issarsingh and Mhatre) who made it all happen. The gang had gathered at the Radio Mirchi Mumbai office where RJ Jeeturaaj was doing a show with them for the channel. Media attention has become a part and parcel of their lives ever since the video went out.

Issarsingh is 85 now, Mhatre 64. It gets exhausting - physically and mentally - to go for these interactions, say the same things all over again.

Pooran: But it’s fine, it’s for a good cause. Whenever I feel tired, I tell myself I am educating people about palliative care in some way. See, you live life kingsize, when you die, you die.

(Pooran (ji) admits she’s not comic by nature but now she likes it. Ask her sister who’s in the same room with us, and she agrees. But what she takes up, she does it well, adds the sister.)

Mhatre: For as long as I have lived, I have faced every problem laughingly. So when these guys ( at Medulla) told me to make comedy out of my sickness, I was ready.

(Mhatre’s wife, who couldn’t make it for the standup show in March but made it to the Mirchi office, thinks her husband is not funny.)

Mhatre: Maybe I’m not funny for her!

*laughter in the conference room*

(Mihir Chitre, creative group head at the agency, and the brain behind this idea, tells us how the comedians weren’t sure if it was possible to pull of a campaign like that. So then how did it work, and so well at that?)

Honesty: The Best Comic Tool

Kunal: It worked because of its honesty. If you’re honest, you will always be liked, and then if your joke is weak, I’ll still connect with it because now I’m empathising with you anyway. I remember Manudevi Singh had an interesting joke about how the doctor now tells her to do anything she wants - play cards, he says. It was genuinely funny. So, it wasn’t as much work for us.

Praful Akali, founder, MD, Medulla: Talking about death in India is such a taboo so much so that when we first discussed the idea within the team, we got feedback like - death is not funny. We took a very big chance and anticipated hate for the campaign. But like Kunal said, these guys were so genuine, they just turned the whole thing around. We would have fallen on our faces if they (the patients) weren’t the ones telling the jokes.

Kashyap: In comedy, you are either punching up or punching down. If I’m saying something about a dying person and I am not dying myself, I’m punching down. So, saying something about someone powerless…

Kunal: Or Rahul Gandhi… *interrupts*

Kashyap: Yeah, or Rahul Gandhi… then I’m punching down.

Kunal: I don’t make fun of Rahul Gandhi, if I meet him I’ll hug him.

Kashyap: For these guys (the patients) it is 'punching level'. Each of these people has the right to crack these jokes.

Kunal: If you’ve actually been through something, you will describe it well. After this campaign, I’m certainly not scared of ageing, I think you can age gracefully and still be funny. I used to worry that I’ll become that of guy who’s not connecting with anyone. I forgot that when you’re old, you have that one thing that most young people don’t have: wisdom.

Kashyap: I like how you looked at me when you said that.

*laughs all around*

Praful: We were so scared how any of this will happen. Mihir and I only believed it was happening when the show got over. We were wiping sweat and I remember Punit coming up to me at that time. I asked him why he agreed to do this. He told me: “Because I thought it’s impossible to pull this off so let me join these guys and see where it goes.”

Punit: Even till we shot it, I was sceptical. The kind of preparation we do for these shows, I mean Kamra would probably do 500 rehearsals before going onstage.

Kunal: Yeah, I’m the slowest. My example is not to be followed.

(see, now we get how honesty works with comedy)

Punit: Yeah, so 50 to 100 times rehearsals is normal for us. But we spent less than a month with these people.

Jokes that were hard to crack

Praful: Because they were patients, we kept pulling in more and more of them because it wasn’t working out with some of the earlier patients.

Mihir: Like the sister Pooran ji talks about in one of her jokes - the one whose death gave her a promotion in the sibling chart - she was supposed to come for the show but she passed away two weeks before that.

Pooran: It was very touching to say that joke but it was so well written. In fact, I remember all the jokes even now because they were all extracted from my life. I don’t need a paper to recite them again. Like that joke about selfies. I actually told them I put make up on and take selfies now because they may be used for my obituary.

Praful: We had thought the weakest point of the campaign would be the patients. They turned out to be the strongest.

Punit: There was not a single dislike on the YouTube video of this campaign the last time I checked. That’s a record by itself.

Kunal: Even Mother Teresa videos have dislikes.

(And what about the comedians’ families)

Family's Rating

Kunal: My mother has hated everything I’ve put out yet, and rightfully so. This one was nice, she said, and that if I keep working in this zone, she will subscribe to my YouTube channel. This didn’t clinch it but it was a conversation starter, let’s say.

Kashyap: My mom and sister haven’t said anything yet, but dad saw it and shared it on his own. He watched it twice and laughed and he has high standards.

Mihir: His dad is the maker of Om Dar Badar (Kamal Swaroop).

Punit: My folks are still not sure about me doing standup but this video made them happy. I got this from other sources as well, in the building’s WhatsApp group for instance. That’s the group in which uncles only share - 'paaniaaya, paanigaya' updates.

(For Pooranji and Mhatre ji, there’s a lot of appreciation in their family - close and extended. Some criticism as well, from part of the family who still think death is not funny. Some elements of envy as well, from those who aren’t getting all the limelight they are.)

Pooran: The other day I got a call from the building doctor. She said: Pooran, you have done wonders. I can’t ever forget this. I love you.

Kashyap: For me, comedy is a coping mechanism. Almost all my jokes are about how I went through really tragic experiences. Like someone once said: Comedy is tragedy plus time. I think this campaign was meant to happen. I’ve got calls from people who want to make a movie on it. It’s got people talking to their parents about death. I was always afraid to ask my father to get a cancer checkup because I thought I’ll never be able to come to terms with these things. Now I think I can.

Mihir: Not accepting death is a major problem in India. And so is not understanding the need for palliative care. I think the way this video got organically shared, I can say that this is not an advertising campaign.

(Perhaps this is the kind of stuff that gives you hope that amidst sobs and howls, there will be a hearty 'laugh after death')